I thought I'd post a few pictures of my newest guitar. Over a year in waiting but it has been worth it. Built by Tim and Pat O'Donnell of Resurrection Custom Guitar Company, it is a small-body, completely hollow archtop. Ebony board, ebony bridge, ebony tail piece, Harmonic Design Z-90 single coil pickups with very simple controls - volume, tone, 3-position selector. It has a carved maple top, carved maple back, maple sides, maple and rosewood 3-piece neck. Tim sent 3 different bridge pieces - the one in the pix below has a compensated brass saddle, also included is a fully adjustable chrome saddle assembly, and one made of Lignum Vitae, which, I understand, is a type of wood used in shipbuilding - very dense and has a nice tone.

This guitar has a nice fat, hollow tone for a relatively small guitar, but is still very articulate and notes are clearly defined. It doesn't have the variety of tone that my Skylark can produce but its sweet breathy tone is very satisfying. It can get beautifully dark and quite bright and chimy and it sounds great when I overdrive my Lonestar.

A big thank you Jonathan (jalevinemd), who was very encouraging and informative when I was considering the purchase of a Resurrection guitar. This is an exceptionally fine instrument and a very nice tonal companion to my beloved Skylark.

Tom I love the combination of hollow body and single coil pickups. I have a Gibson 347 with Duncan Seth Lovers and a factory original coil tap switch that's always kept in single coil mode. Also, that's a really beautiful background that you're using for your photos, especially in the first full instrument pic!

Thanks guys. Rami - I haven't heard of the Resurrection guys making basses, but Tim is great to deal with, and if you're serious it would be worth calling him.

Paul - it's just a rug in my living room - not the best light there but I always seem to get interesting reflections. As for the single coils, I was a little torn, as most hollow body guitars you hear have humbuckers and I love that warm sound. After playing around with these Z-90s though, they are every bit as fat and rich sounding - I'm glad I went with them. Also, they are the same size as most humbuckers, so if I ever need to swap them out it should be a snap.

Kevin - you're right. I looked at a lot of hollow and semi-hollow archtop style guitars. I really liked the sound and size of the Johnny A model from Gibson, but for the price (more than the Resurrection) it wasn't anything special. The back and sides of the Johnny A are routed from the same slab unlike the back of the Resurrection, which Tim explained was carved for tonal projection. One of these days I'll pick up a large bodied jazz box, but for now this fits the bill nicely.

IMHO, you got yourself a MUCH better guitar than a production-line Gibson Johnny A.

When you're ready for a Jazz box, don't overlook Heritage. Initially, I was very skeptical buying a "fake" Gibson L-5, even though it was made in the old Gibson Kalamazoo factory by old Gibson employees using old Gibson tools and methods. I got over it after owning and playing it for the past year. The MUCH smaller hole it made in my bank account, coupled with the shockingly consistent (lack of) quality coming from Gibson these days got me past the "it's not a Gibson, so it can't be good" thing with flying colors. I love the thing and I'm not afraid to take it out for lessons and such...not certainly like I would be if I paid $10k-$20K (or more) for a Gibson Custom Shop carved arch-top jazz box (price a custom L-5, Super 400/4000 or the Citation for sh*ts and giggles, but make sure you're seated lest you pass out from the shock!).

Thanks Kevin - Heritage has been at the top of my list when it comes to reasonably affordable archtops. I've been hearing some good things about Eastman as well. You're right about the quality of new Gibsons. The handful that I've looked at lately have more than a couple noticeable flaws - some merely cosmetic, but some have real problems with playability. I realize that most of the playability issues could probably be addressed if the shop did a proper setup. It's pretty difficult to drop the kind of money they're asking for a new Gibson with all the alternatives around.